Wait a minute, where is my master?

Great Xia Imperial City, Taiji Palace.

This place was originally the residence of the reigning Emperor of Great Xia, but after Emperor Xia Xuanmin passed the throne to his son, he did not move out. Instead, he stayed and continued his cultivation in seclusion.

The current Emperor, having no choice, had to build a new palace for himself and left this place for his father.

Inside the main hall of Taiji Palace, Xia Xuanmin, dressed in casual clothes with black hair and an authoritative face, sat behind the Dragon Bookcase. Yet, he was staring blankly into space.

Outside the hall, a guard hurried in and knelt on one knee to report, "Your Highness, the Supreme Emperor, a great monk outside requests an audience with you."

No sooner had the words fallen than the portly monk had already walked in through the hall doors.

The guard, realizing this and glaring angrily from his kneeling position, was obviously extremely loyal to Xia Xuanmin and considered the monk's entrance a grave affront to his master, the Supreme Emperor.

"That will be all, you may leave."

Xia Xuanmin came back to his senses and waved the guard away from before the bookcase.

Once the Supreme Emperor gave the word, the guard stood up, bowed respectfully, and retreated backwards.

"Mr. Xia, that little cultivator of yours is quite loyal," commented the portly monk with a tease.

"Heh, after being emperor for one thousand eight hundred years, it would be a terrible failure not to have a few die-hard loyalists," retorted Xia Xuanmin with a self-deprecating laugh, his imposing face taking on a lonely expression as he evidently thought of the treasonous Princess Consort Zheng and the Prime Minister, among others.

Seeing the founding Emperor of Great Xia with such a look, the great monk lost his mood for teasing. It's only fun to tease someone when they're anxiously hopping mad; if the target simply gives up, there's no joy in it.

"So, tell me, Mr. Xia, why did you urgently call me back?"

The great monk made himself at home, walking up to the bookcase and picking up a red spirit fruit. He casually wiped it on his robe before taking a bite.

Xia Xuanmin paid no mind to the monk's behavior. Or rather, he himself was currently in no position to care, and after a moment of contemplation, he said, "I wish to borrow the Glazed Wisdom Eye from your Wanbao Temple for a moment."

The Glazed Wisdom Eye, left behind by a high-ranking monk from Wanbao Temple after attaining nirvana, had only one function: to glimpse a corner of the river of time.

"Not possible. You know the rules of Wanbao Temple. I've already saved you once and agreed to protect you for half a month as you went to Shangjing City. The items I wanted, I've already picked from what you had.

Now, Mr. Xia, the things you have by your side don't interest me," the portly monk refused quite decisively and politely.

"Master, please don't be so hasty to refuse. Listen to my offer. If I reduce the protection period in Shangjing City by five days in exchange for one use of the Glazed Wisdom Eye, would that suffice?"

Xia Xuanmin stood up from behind the desk and looked steadily at the great monk before him.

Upon hearing this, the portly monk took a vigorous bite of the spirit fruit in his hand and, after chewing for a moment, said, "In that case, it would seem fair. Nonetheless, the cost for using the Glazed Wisdom Eye must be paid by you, Mr. Xia."

A treasure that could glimpse into a corner of the river of time naturally was not something that could be activated on a whim, and the usage cost was extraordinarily high, each activation consuming a portion of the user's lifespan.

"Agreed!"

Xia Xuanmin accepted without hesitation.

"Then, Mr. Xia, when do you require the use of the Glazed Wisdom Eye?"

"Now."

Surprised by this response, the portly monk briefly paused before lightly wiping the Qiankun Cloth Bag with his hand, and a glassy eyeball appeared in his palm.

"Are you certain about this, Mr. Xia? Each use of this item will consume some of your lifespan, depending on the extent of your scrutiny, and you are still not healed from your serious injuries—hardly the ideal time for such a thing."

"Thank you for the reminder, Master, but living a little longer or a little less no longer matters to me now," the founding Emperor of Great Xia replied softly, showing none of the arrogance rumored about him in the Nine Provinces Immortal World.

"So be it."

With those words, the portly monk extended the Glazed Wisdom Eye without another word.

Xia Xuanmin took the Wisdom Eye, said a word of thanks to the great monk, and turned to enter the back hall.

A quarter of an hour later, the sound of dragon chants arose from the Taiji Hall.

Hearing the noise, the big-bellied monk let out a sigh with a smile and then saw Xia Xuanmin emerge from the rear hall.

At this moment, the founding Emperor of Great Xia, once with a full head of black hair, now had streaks of grey, and his majestic face had begun to show signs of age, with a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth.

"Thank you for your efforts, Master."

With that, he returned the Glazed Wisdom Eye and then turned back into the rear hall.

The grand monk looked at the other's appearance, shook his head, took another Spirit Fruit, and left the great hall, muttering under his breath, "A reign of two thousand three hundred years comes to naught in the end."

He felt that the Xia dynasty of Great Xia, which had established an equal existence for mortals and cultivators in the Nine Provinces Realm, was likely to collapse.

In the rear hall.

Xia Xuanmin's hair had turned completely white, and more wrinkles had appeared on his previously slightly aged face.

He now stood in front of a portrait and took a jade bottle out of a storage ring. With trembling hands, he poured all the pills inside into his mouth, and after the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the trend of aging was finally halted.

In the end, his appearance stabilized around the age of sixty, and his hair turned a mix of black and white.

Cultivators in the Nine Provinces Realm generally had one of two situations regarding their appearance: one, their appearance was fixed upon advancing to the Nascent Soul stage, and unless they encountered either a great opportunity or crisis, absorbing or losing too much vitality at once, their looks wouldn't change drastically.

They would just age gradually over time.

If they succeeded in ascending, they could reshape their immortal bodies.

The second situation was to rely on magic to cast a Blinding Skill on themselves, allowing for any desired change in appearance. The downside was that cultivators of a higher rank could see through it.

Xia Xuanmin was clearly the former; he was already severely injured, and then lost too much vitality all at once. Even after consuming many spirit pills containing vitality, he couldn't reverse the damage.

It was clear that his foundation was wounded.

In front of the portrait, the founding Emperor of Great Xia murmured softly.

"Ning'er, I will soon be reunited with you.

Just wait a bit longer for me. Before I leave, I must ensure that Great Xia is well settled, as that was our shared wish back in the day.

Once we meet, I will definitely have a long talk with you about how your dream of mortals and cultivators coexisting has almost been realized in the Great Xia dynasty I established for you.

It's just a pity that in the end, I still couldn't take that step. Otherwise, I could have made you come to me, instead of me going to you."

Xia Xuanmin's few words, if spread outside, would likely cause a great uproar.

The unique coexistence of mortals and cultivators established in the Great Xia dynasty was actually for a woman.

After speaking to himself, the founding Emperor of Great Xia's face regained some of its former brilliance, and he turned to leave the rear hall.

In the empty rear hall, only the ancient painting made of unknown materials and the woman depicted in it remained.

...

Yanyu Building, the ninth layer.

Jin Xu and Yu Yaoer were chatting leisurely in the room, while they waited for Xia Yunzhao to arrive.

Xu Qian was not there; in the end, he still felt too embarrassed to stay for free.

Although a High Grade Spirit Stone might not mean much to Jin Xu, it was still too precious for him.

Xu Qian was shameless enough, but he still had some face to save.

Of course, he was mainly worried that Li Mi would find out he wasn't in Shangjing City after arriving.

So, Xu Qian bid farewell to Jin Xu and the others and went to visit Prime Minister Qin.

"Knock knock knock."

While Yu Yaoer and Little White were frolicking, a knocking on the door was heard.